Everything You Need to Know About ‘Beezin’
When I was in middle school, the “cool” thing to do was use a pencil eraser to “erase” the top of one’s hand until a mark formed. That was one of the many peculiar trends I could never get into, but even more bizarre is what today’s youth are doing to enjoy themselves. I’ve always used Burt’s Bees lip balm to combat the dryness of southern California, but teens have turned the chapstick into a tool that enables them to get high … or at least gives them something to focus on besides homework and tests.
Okahoma City’s Fox 25 reports that teens have begun applying Burt’s Bees to their eyelids to enhance current inebriation and experience a tingling sensation on their bodies. BuzzFeed is skeptical that this trend was started to achieve a high and suspects teens are most likely “doing it because they’re bored out of their minds revising for exams and literally any experience is better than revising.” Either way, it doesn’t seem like a pleasant experience. Teenagers call it Beezin’, but they really ought have named it Burnin’, as the “peppermint oil in the lip balm is a very strong irritant and can cause inflammation in the eye redness of the eye swelling,” according to Dr. Brett Cauthen of Today Clinic.
“It’s the peppermint oil that’s causing the burning sensation and I suppose some people think that is kind of funny,” Dr. Cauthen continued, adding that Burt’s Bee’s natural approach does not mean this is a safe thing to do. Obviously.
Anyone who’s ever purchased Burt’s Bees knows it has a strong impact on the lips and can feel almost like a sting, so rubbing that all over one’s eyeballs sounds painful as well as stupid. Dr. Cauthen isn’t the only physician to caution others about this unusual trend, either. Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, who is a medical toxicologist, explained to Click On Detroit, “Cold sores are caused by the herpes virus. If you use the lip balm on the cold sore and your friend borrows the lip balm, puts it on their eyelid, the herpes virus could be transmitted from the lip balm to a person’s eye, and that person could go blind.”
Is the inability to see truly worth gaining popularity and social acceptance for? I’d hope not, and perhaps some of the advice from medical professionals will put some sense into kids thinking this is hilarious or cool. It won’t be so cool when they’re being raced to the emergency room feeling like their eyeballs are on fire. Fun stuff!
Remember when the hip thing to do was to snort condoms up your nose? Or make milk squirt out your eye? Beezin’ seems harmless by comparison, but it’s still dangerous, and the real issue is what can happen after a trend like this is born. What will people start doing after Beezin’ gets old, and to what extents will young kids go to fight boredom and impress their peers? I’m just glad to no longer be a teenager. It’s rough, but also pretty risky right now.
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